Disclaimer: I do not own SNK in any way, shape or form

A.N at the end of the chapter (these ones are important I feel)


Slowly, consciousness came back to him. A small ray of light was falling on his still closed eyes and was starting to bother him. With a groan, Eren rested his weight on his hands as he rose from the soft surface he was in. As vision started coming to, he realized he was in a make-shift hospital, made in the inside of a large, one room building, probably a barn.

Looking around the bed he was in, Eren noted not much of note actually. Just a nightstand next to his bed and another table opposite to it. As he sat in bed, the feeling of a small headache came to him. Massaging his temples, the memories of what had happened came back to him. He had been so close to end it all there. Without Reiner and Berthold to worry about, dealing with Zeke would be a lot simpler, leaving him a hell of a lot more time to prepare Paradis for Marley's eventual retaliation.

"For fuck's sake" he said in a low voice. "Can't things just go as planned for once?" With another groan, he looked for his boots and jacket. Placing his feet inside of the leather knee high boots, he noted just then how cumbersome they were now to him. Having spent so long in Marley, he had become accustomed that his footwear were shoes, or boots who at most reached his calf, and now the single piece of leather that lacked laces except for one at the top had become an insufferable nuisance.

Walking outside, the light of the sun fell with more strength, making him place a hand on top of his mismatched eyes to cover them. He found a large group of mostly scouts, with a few garrison members sprinkled throughout, all working in a different kind of ordeals. But he soon noticed that most were either resupplying their equipment, feeding their horses or alike. They were preparing to move into action. So we're still going to go after Reiner and Bert, huh? he mused to himself.

"Eren!" a voice called. Shifting his gaze to the direction of the voice, he saw Mikasa approach him. "Are you alright?" she asked as she was close to him. Eren smiled softly.

"Survived worse" he said reassuringly, emphasizing the point by placing a hand on her arm. "How long was I out?" he asked.

"Just a few hours" she answered as her tone calmed down. "We came here almost as soon as we got you out from your titan. We're in a farm, not too far from district Chrolba." Eren nodded as she explained, pinching his nose at the information. If it had only been a few hours, then there was still a chance to catch those two without too much incident.

"Is Hanji near?" he asked, Mikasa nodded. "Take me to her, please." As she led him, Eren noted that the number of soldiers at the compound couldn't surpass thirty. It was a very small force. He hoped it would be enough to handle the situation that was to come. A small sigh came out of his lips, as a sense of dizziness started to fade into his head. He started to think over just how things had gone so far.

Well, for one, Annie had been captured, alive this time. Having her would prove useful when the time came for recapture Wall Maria, and could even be used as a guide into Marley, making the Survey Corps not so over-reliant on the group of deserters that made in his time the yeagerists, something that in retrospective he found to be a mistake. Also, and even though Eren couldn't keep all four of them alive, Petra and Eld had survived, and better even, they could be back in service in just a few months; and their skill and experience would certainly come in handy. But on the other hand, he simply was not in a position to be safe not even most of the old guard of the Scouting Legion. Mike, Nanaba, and the rest of the former's squad still perished. That was disappointing, as knowing what was ahead implanted in Eren this conviction that he needed any possible soldiers he could keep alive. And also, he hadn't been capable to cut down Reiner and Bert. A step back he hoped he could correct.

"You look troubled" Mikasa said besides him, pulling Eren out of his thoughts. He turned to her, his heart skipping a beat. It had never been a doubt to him that Mikasa has always been a very beautiful girl, but it was just after waking up here that he realized the full extent of that. How smooth her skin was, in spite of years of training; or how caring her eyes were, in spite of how much hardship they had seen. His lips turned upward ever so slightly.

"I'm ok, really" Eren assured her. "I was just processing what happened." Mikasa frowned at that.

"Reiner and Berthold…" she said, leaving the sentence hang in the air. "Just… who would've thought that they…" she sighed exasperated. Eren looked to the ground, it would be really difficult once he came clean. He shook the thought away, he had time to prepare for that. Looking up, he put one hand on her shoulder and the other on the cheek.

"I know" he assured her. "We will deal with them." He paused. He remembered something about Mikasa he had not thought about, joining the military was never her idea. She had joined simply to be with him. She had often mused of living a simple life, whether in Shiganshina or somewhere else. "I don't know when this will end" he said. "But when it does, I'd like to leave this… The military, I mean."

Mikasa's eyes widened like plates, she gasped, though if she was honest she wouldn't know if that was because of Eren's words or the feeling of his palm on her cheek. "W-what are you talking, Eren?" she stammered a bit. "I-I mean, you always wanted to explore the outside world."

Nice safe, Mikasa Eren thought a bit amused at the usually stoic soldier's display. He smiled softly. It was true. Since little he had always felt a drive to explore and discover, outside of the walls being almost something not real, an abstraction more than the fifty-meter-tall obstacles they were. But he had already seen what was outside, Eren had rolled and tumbled around Marley from coast to coast and beyond for years. He had been in damp forested mountains and dry flat deserts. He had been on tense negotiations and shootouts. He had smuggled goods and gone in treasure hunts. He had witnessed cruel executions and had been the executioner himself. Eren was pretty sure he had seen more of Marley, its land and its people, than all the Warriors, Magath included, put together, in fact. And he knew that he would inevitably return there, he needed to if he was to save his loved ones this time. His palm started shaking while still on Mikasa's face, retracting it and clenching it into a fist. He sighed.

"Eren" Mikasa said, wrapping her hand around his fist, concern flooding her gaze. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked softly. The red scarf tied neatly around her neck. He nodded.

"I'm good" he answered. "Just… It's a lot to take in… So much has happened…" Eren would be lying if he said he wasn't disturbed by this whole ordeal. Everything was supposed to have already ended. Everyone was supposed to be dead. And here they were. He shook the thought away, now wasn't the moment. "But we'll get through this, Mikasa" he reassured, even though he was not sure whom he was comforting. "I swear."

"Eren! Mikasa!" a voice brought them back to where they were. They both turned to find Armin running towards them. As he reached them, he started panting, his hands on his knees.

"What is it, Armin?" Eren asked as he palmed his friend in the shoulder. Armin continued panting for a couple seconds before speaking.

"Commander Erwin and Captain Levi are arriving" he announced. "I was looking for you." At that, the three went to the where the crowd was forming.

Soon enough, a group of scouts in their mounts arrived, with Erwin Smith at its head. Captain Levi wasn't far behind, and all eyes soon fell on him, more precisely, on the person who was also mounting with him. Her hair was untied and made a mess, and she wasn't wearing a military jacket, let alone the cloak the rest of the entourage was wearing. With a frown cemented on his face, Levi came off his horse, and walked towards Eren, while the other already dismounted scouts helped Annie Leonhart of the horse.

Oh, you're shitting me were the only words flowing through Eren's mind.

"Brat, with me" barked Levi as he moved away from the crowd, just as Erwin started addressing the rest. Eren turned to Mikasa, making a sign with his hand before following Levi. Once they were a safe distance from the others, Levi turned to face him.

"Here's the situation, Eren" he said, the frown still deep on his features. "The Female Titan is now under jurisdiction of us, and Erwin wants us specifically to make sure no one hurts it and vice versa. And by us, I mean you. I want to deal with that as little as possible, you hear me?" Eren nodded instantly. "Good…" the captain sighed. "Look, if it was up to me, she would be chopped into pieces and thrown in the river. But Erwin will follow your suggestion to use her to recapture Wall Maria and against Marley. I don't like this one bit, but I'm going to trust you on this." As he said that, his hand grabbed Eren's shoulders roughly, his eyes sharp like daggers. "Don't fuck me on this."

"I won't, Levi" The captain nodded at that.

"Also" he added. "Erwin said that I should expand my squadron so we can deal with her with more ease, especially considering it's still going to take some time before either Petra or Eld are back. I was thinking of those I've been employing recently, the ones who are also from your lot. You got a few suggestions?"

Nodding along, Eren smiled inwardly. "Well, there's these other two soldiers from the 104th. Sasha Blouse and Connie Springer. Might seem like slacking jokesters, but they are good and capable soldiers, they broke the top ten of my troop for a reason."

Levi hummed at that. "Making the top ten with Shadis in spite of these eccentricities you say? … I'll think about your suggestion."

"Thank you, Levi" Eren said, bowing his head a bit.

"Tsk, don't get cocky brat. Now, get the female out of there and tell her what's up. I want her to know who has the power in here, iron it on her fucking brain if need be. Go." Without another word, Eren did as said and moved to the now dispersing crowd and moved straight towards Annie, signaling to her to follow him.

He did have a lot to tell her.


As he walked through the compound of the farm, it could not escape Armin the amount of mixed feelings about the current situation. Erwin had dismounted and almost immediately announced that Annie was now not only a member of the Survey Corps but also that she would be an asset against 'the real enemy' that was behind the fall of Wall Maria, and the construction of the walls to begin with.

The commander had not been very informative as to who this real enemy was, and that was eating away at Armin. Who was behind the titans? And how did Erwin Smith had found out? He sighed. It was a situation both intriguing and concerning. With the commander's vagueness and the weight of all recent discoveries, it smelled like there was something not being told.

When he came out of his thoughts, Armin found himself inside of the barn that was being used as a make-shift hospital. It was currently empty, as all the injured were transported to the city. He was at the back end of the building, where there was a set of stairs going up to the second building where grain, wheat and alike were saved. He turned and found another set of stairs, this one going down, with a closed door at the end. That was strange, as the door was open last time he had been here a few hours ago when checking on a still passed out Eren.

Curiosity getting the better of him, as it often did with Armin, he slowly walked down the stairs. As he neared the bottom, sounds started coming from the other side of the door, what seemed to be a conversation. Leaning his face against the door, he listened closely, to see if he could pick up something.

"That is" a feminine voice said, it was being muffled by the door so Armin couldn't really pick up on whose voice, "quite a tale you got."

"That's a way to put it" a masculine voice answered, again he couldn't identify it.

"And you haven't told no one about this, right?" the female voice asked.

"It's a difficult conversation" the other voice answered. "Look, I know it's a lot to take in—"

"Just know that the only reason I believe you it's because there's no other explanation to you knowing what you know right?" The female voice interrupted the other one. "So, your first plan isn't an option?"

"No" the man's voice answered. "To activate the Rumbling it needs an order from the Founding Titan, which doesn't exist anymore. So any plan that involves it is useless. On the good hand, it means Zeke's Euthanasia won't be a concern either."

"Ok, so… What's your plan then?" the first voice asked. A small instant went by before a response came.

"Well, first of all, we need to retake Maria. After that, it's more of a basic layout so…"

"So you don't have a plan?" The voice sighed. "This is just great…" Slowly, a familiarity appeared in the voices for Armin… But that couldn't possibly be. Right?

"Look, I haven't had much chance to actually come up with something thorough, ok? Fuck off." The second voice answered with venom in its tone.

"Oh, forgive me" the first voice answered sarcastically. "It's not like you made go against everything I know or anything. Please, accept my apology."

"Shut up" Just shut up. We have more than enough time to plan this out when those fuckers are out of the island."

"… Ok. In the meantime, we just have to go along with the scouts." The way the first voice phrased that became eerily familiar. Then it him. Annie? Armin thought.

"Basically." If the first voice was Annie's, then the only real possibility for the identity was… Eren?!

"Well, we are in the same side as they. Right?" The question hanged in the air. Panic filled Armin's mind. Just what was going on? A few seconds later, he answered.

"The Survey Corps is more of a convenient framework for us to work from. We share similar goals, and, in time, we can steer them in the right direction. We are in the scouts, but we're not scouts necessarily ourselves."

"So we're now the ones in the right" Annie said before giving a dry laugh. "Convenient. Really convenient."

"That's the thing Annie" Eren's voice was now clear as day. "Everyone things only them are in the right. Everything can be justified with a good enough tale."

Armin couldn't take it anymore. Making sure not to make any noise, he went up the stairs of the barn and left running. Eren and Annie were plotting something, he had heard it from their own mouths. What was happening? Had the world gone mad?!

He stopped. His mind racing with several, and increasingly perverse theories. This was all just so strange. He had to share this with someone and see what could it be.

But who could he possibly share this with? The higher officers, Erwin Hanji and Levi were out of the question. If he did, they could charge Eren with treason, and from what he heard, that wasn't the case. Mikasa maybe? He could, but would she believe Armin. By this point just about everyone knew of his friend's feelings for Eren, and it was more than likely that would make her unreachable for any of this talks. His temples were pulsating; a bad headache was coming.

He had to confront Eren about this. That's what he would do. Eren was his friend. He couldn't really be plotting against them. As soon as Armin had a chance, him and Eren would sit down.


Slowly, consciousness came back to Ymir. If the hard surface and leafs everywhere were a giveaway, she would say she was on the top of a tree. Her head was spinning. As she moved a hand to massage her temple, steam came against it instead. Turning over, she saw that half of her forearm was gone, looking down one of her legs was also missing from the knee down, steam coming off as the now familiar healing was ongoing.

"Just my fucking luck" Ymir muttered.

"That's on me, I'm sorry" an indistinguishable voice called. Looking up, she found Reiner and Berthold on a nearby branch from another tree. "I was in a hurry and bit your limbs off on accident" Reiner said.

Slight shock ran through her veins at that, though her face did not show. "Reiner, Bert" she said.

"If you're thinking about it, Ymir" Reiner continued, "you cannot escape. We're in the middle of titan territory, if you look down you'll find several mindless titans eager to get a bite out of us. Besides, your body is at its limits, you can't shift while your body heals."

Ymir hummed at that. "I'm assuming you know that cause you're titans yourselves." Reiner remained still, though the lanky Bert nodded behind him. "Honestly I don't know much of this titan ordeal, so" she shrugged. "What are you planning?"

"Don't think I forgot about our episode in the castle, Ymir" Reiner said, his arms still crossed. "You can make yourself an idea."

"You're taking me back to Marley? You want your precious titan power back."

"We will eventually" the blond answered. "In the meantime we're going back to our depo and await instructions from war chief Zeke. That's the hairy titan we saw in Utgard if you didn't figure that out."

"I've always wondered why you people haven't come in the last five years to lay waste to this island" Ymir mused. "Why infiltrate the military?"

"Marley wants the Coordinate before making further moves on Paradis." This time it was Berthold who answered. "And Reiner considered that the best way to obtain it."

"Oh, so this whole charade of playing soldier was your idea only, Reiner, huh?" Ymir teased. "Always wanting to play hero and whatnot."

"I'm not compelled to respond to you, Ymir" Reiner answered sternly.

"I will just ask you this" she answered quickly. "Do you two idiots know that Eren knows about Marley? Not only that, he also knew I was a shifter before even the expedition. What do ya think about that?"

Immediately, shock invaded their faces. Bert, who had already been carrying the look of a worried kid, went ballistic. "What?!" he practically screamed.

"You're lying" a very exasperated Reiner said.

"Why would I?" Ymir shrugged. "A couple of nights before the expedition, I was on patrol, and he appeared, he let me knew."

"Reiner" Berthold moved to be just besides the blond, "if she's telling the truth, that means that he was waiting for us to make a move! What else have we been missing?! Reiner, this could be our end!"

"I know, Bert!" Reiner snapped back. Taking a deep breath, the blond calmed down a bit before turning back on Ymir. "Even if what you're saying is true it doesn't change much of anything, Ymir. And you know that?"

She kept silent at that. It was true, even with the new wildcard that was Eren, and for all his motivational talk, Ymir was still well aware that the walldians were awfully unprepared if Marley dared to invade with its full might, the threat of the Founder being the only one in the way of that scenario. Whatever Eren had in mind was unfathomable for her. In her mind, Paradis did not stand a chance. All of them were, for all intents and purposes, doomed. Eren, his friends, that horse-faced Jean, Connie, Sasha, Krista—

Historia, she screamed to herself, that was her name. Historia. The thought of Historia, her beloved Historia, being executed by Marley, or worse, be turned into a titan and wander in that nightmare for the rest of time. She could not allow that. But what could Ymir, an orphan in all ways, could do? She then looked back at Reiner and Berthold arguing between them, and her path laid ahead.

"Hey" she said, Reiner and Bert stopped arguing and turned to her. "You're right… Paradis has no chance. But, is there a way you can give safe passage to someone in here?"

The two men looked at each other. They were estranged by the question by the one who technically was their prisoner. "Well, there is a precedent" Berthold told Reiner.

"What do you mean?" the blond asked.

"The Tyburs are eldians, and yet they live in luxury and are immune to any attack" he argued.

"That's totally different, Berthold." Reiner countered.

"I know, but there is a precedent. Besides, the warriors and their families gain special rights as 'honorary marleyans'" he argued back. Berthold then turned to Ymir. "That is out of our control" he told her. "But there might be a chance, if you cooperate with us, then maybe Marley can make an exception for you, Ymir."

She shook her head. "I'm not asking for me."


As he rode on his horse behind the one Annie was, Eren wasn't exactly thrilled, but fairly confident. He wasn't counting on Annie joining them so soon, but that may even work for his advantage. Erwin had called for a party to go after Reiner and Berthold, and to rescue Ymir if possible, as he argued that having yet another titan on their side could only bring them good. Eren agreed, though he was still a bit bitter over the fact that he had to this in the first place.

It helped his concern having Levi in this party also. The veteran had proven himself to be an incredible asset several time, and that would continue to be the case for quite some time. He was also musing of the squad that was forming around the remnants of the first Levi Squad: Himself, Mikasa, Levi, Armin, Annie, Jean, Connie, Sasha, Petra, Eld and with a bit of luck Ymir would make an elite enough force for him to be more than comfortable dealing with any other shifter, even the Warhammer.

He shook the thought away; he would have enough time to concur this team when this trip was over. Looking over, Eren noticed that Armin was eyeing him, he had been doing that for some time, and it was starting to get worrisome. He would have to talk to him also. He sighed slightly, there just was so much left to be done before he could even start preparing for the real threat.

He rode and positioned himself so he would be just besides Annie. The two shared a look and gave a subtle nod to each other.

Could he really trust Annie? Eren supposed he could trust that she will be true to her goals. She has been explicit in that she is only in this to get back to her father. His mind returned to the conversation the two had just a few hours ago, when she arrived with Erwin and the others.

The two walked into the barn, looking for a place isolated enough so the two could speak with general privacy. After some searching, they found a basement at the end of the barn, they entered to find it empty. They quickly locked the door and Eren got to explain what exactly was going on, him being from another time, the Tezcatlipoca, and so on. After that they had a little spat over what was he currently planning and their place in the Survey Corps.

"I got a question" Annie had asked shortly after. "If you are supposed to consume the nine, what exactly are you going to do with me?"

"In my time on Marley I saw many things. Some good, some bad, most of the time it was just boredom to be honest, and few peaks of gruesomeness. Anyway, among those things, there was this chemist who had allegedly found a way to retrieve shifter powers from the host without killing them. We had been hired to guard him as he went to the capital to announce it to the military. The trip ended up failing and the guy died, but I managed to keep his notes and read it frequently. I still have a solid idea of what was the process, and I was thinking that with help from Hanji we could recreate the serum." As the implications dawned on Annie, her eyes widened.

"So you're going to get the Female Titan out of me—"

"And then consume it myself" he finished. Annie hummed as she processed the idea.

"I had resigned myself to live just six years more" she thought out loud. "But wouldn't make me lose my usefulness to you."

"Well for me it wouldn't matter" Eren shrugged. "But for the Survey Corps? You are still a talented soldier with knowledge about Marley and its military, so you can lean on that. And also, it's going to be a while before that becomes an option, so by then you should've gained their trust." He had put his palm on her shoulder and started walking towards the door. As he approached it, Annie said something that stuck with him since.

"Do you have the curse of Ymir as well?" she had asked.

He didn't know what to answer then, and even now his mind was filled with speculations. In theory, there should not be a reason for the curse of Ymir, the thirteen-year lifespan of a shifter, in him, as his power did not come from Ymir. Also, the Tezcatlipoca had not mentioned such limitations. Matter of fact, it did not give Eren any restrictions over how to complete he mission it gave him, and Eren was relying on that to make the serum work. But he felt the possibility could not be ruled out either, as he supposed such fine letters on contracts would be common in such deals. So now, the uncertainty over whether or not he was still working on a time limit was slowly poking at his mind, letting the door open for anxiety to barge in. As if it needed help to begin with.

A shout pulled him out of his thoughts as he saw the party approached the large forest. Looking back, he saw a small group of mindless titans following the party. He turned his gaze back ahead and he saw something moving quickly through the trees.

"Prepare to attack!" shouted Erwin in front of them. As they were just on the edge of the forest, the thing moving in the trees jumped down and landed, crushing two scouts on their horses under its feet.

Shock gave way to fury in Eren as the form of Ymir's Jaw Titan roared at the party, deadly intent written on its veins.


So this would be it for this chapter, leaving it in a bit of a cliff-hanger, if you don't mind.

Took me a bit longer to complete this than I had anticipated, and I apologize for that. The whole ordeal that is going on with the coronavirus had the political scientist in me taking a lot of attention into it and what could happen out of this (PLEASE, ALL OF YOU TAKE CARE IN THESE TIMES AND LISTEN TO THE MEASURES SUGGESTED BY THE EXPERTS!). Add to that a bit of writer's block, there was also me working on this story's prequel, Starless, and other more personal affairs have been going on and it's been putting a dent on my work scehdule. With some luck, it won't take as long for the next update to show itself.

I also want to thank Syrup-Waffle for giving me the idea of a serum capable of subtracting the shifter power, I hadn't thought of it before reading it and if by any chance you end up reading this I want to congratulate you on making such a good story in "Titan Through Time", I wish you the best luck, and that you don't mind me borrowing this asset for my purposes.

I've also come to a bit of a dilemma regarding where this story is headed. I won't give anything away, but I will say that the story will end in a place I myself don't agree with, but as I see it that ending is the one that make sense when taking into perspective the characthers' motivations, worldview and available resources. I'm still going to end this story, regardless of this dilemma, but I would like having your opinions on the matter. For those who do, I thank you in advance for your opinion.

And as always, all reviews are welcomed. I hope you keep enjoying this little project of mine, and I will see you all on the next update!